After years of coming in second place, 32 Chunk has finally been crowned the champion of Fat Bear Week.

The nearly 1,200-pound brown bear has been a regular at Brooks River in Alaska's Katmai National Park since 2007, when he was around two years old.

Chunk has come in second place for the last three years of the virtual competition, but his persistence and appetite finally paid off.

Officials said he came to the river this summer with a broken jaw, something he likely got during a mating season fight. But that didn't stop him from bulking up on the river's plentiful supply of sockeye salmon.

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"I think his story of perseverance and resilience really resonated with the voting public," said Mike Fitz, resident naturalist with Explore.org.

Fitz said this year's competition saw over 1.5 million votes cast online. Despite the social media popularity, Fitz said the number of teachers using Fat Bear Week as a classroom tool to educate students about things like wildlife, bears, salmon and conservation has been one of the most rewarding aspects.

This year's runner-up was 856, another massive male bear known for his unique behavioral characteristic of licking his lips.

The fat bear frenzy began as Fat Bear Tuesday in 2014, aimed at celebrating the Alaskan bears' winter weight gain and the thriving ecosystem supporting them. Now, thousands of people from around the globe flock to FatBearWeek.org and cast their votes in a single-elimination tournament to pick the chunkiest bear that has captured their hearts.

A group of Democratic senators has sent a list of questions to two companies that own local TV stations across the country to address why they refuse to air Jimmy Kimmel's late-night talk show even after ABC made the decision to bring it back.

Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Ron Wyden of Oregon, Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland signed a 7-page letter on Tuesday addressed to Perry A. Sook, the chairman of Nexstar Media Group, and Christopher S. Ripley, the president and chief executive of Sinclair Broadcast Group.

Sinclair owns about 40 ABC-affiliated local TV stations, while Nexstar, the country's largest TV broadcaster, owns around 30 ABC-affiliated TV stations in various markets.

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"Suspending the show of a comedian critical of the Trump administration clearly has value to President Trump, who has been critical of Mr. Kimmel for years," the lawmakers wrote. "If Nexstar or Sinclair traded the censorship of a critic of the administration for official acts by the Trump administration, your companies are not only complicit in an alarming trampling of free speech rights but also risk running afoul of federal law."

After Kimmel mentioned conservative influencer Charlie Kirk's killing in his show's monologue last week, Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr threatened to take action.

He stated, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead," on The Benny Show, a podcast hosted by conservative commentator Benny Johnson.

Within hours, Nexstar and Sinclair announced they would not air Kimmel's show on their ABC stations, calling Kimmel's comments offensive, inappropriate and insensitive. In a separate post, Sinclair also called for Kimmel to make a personal donation to the Kirk family and Turning Point USA.

ABC, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company, followed suit but then announced earlier this week that the show would return on Tuesday night.

Shortly after the announcement, Andrew Kolvet, the spokesperson for Turning Point USA, said on X, "Disney and ABC caving and allowing Kimmell back on the air is not surprising, but it's their mistake to make. Nextstar and Sinclair do not have to make the same choice."

Sinclair and Nexstar then said they would continue to keep Kimmel's show from airing on their ABC stations. Sinclair said in a statement, "Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the shows potential return."

"This series of events raises serious questions about whether Nexstar and Sinclair responded to Trump officials warnings by removing Mr. Kimmels show, not only to avoid regulatory backlash from the FCC, but also to influence the Trump administrations review of your pending deals," the lawmakers said in their letter to the companies' leadership.

The senators pointed out that both Nexstar and Sinclair are in the process of finalizing "massive deals" that require the FCC's approval.

Nexstar announced last month that it had reached an agreement to buy rival media company Tegna.

"If the FCC approves this merger, Nexstar would stand to control stations that reach an unprecedented 80 percent of TV households in the United States more than double the existing limit. In order for the deal to go through, Nexstar needs a change in media ownership rules or a waiver from FCC Chairman Carr," the lawmakers claimed.

The senators then listed nine questions that they want answered by both companies by Oct. 7.

Nexstar and Sinclair have not publicly commented on the letter.

It's time for everyone's favorite bracket battle Fat Bear Week. The annual online contest returns to Katmai National Park in Alaska as massive brown bears gorge, bulk up and compete for the internets vote in a wild, fish-fueled showdown where size is everything.

This year's competitors will be announced live on YouTube on Monday evening. Once the bears and brackets are set, the ferocious game is on.

It's a single-elimination tournament where the public can vote for the bear they believe best exemplifies fatness and success in brown bears. The bear with the most votes advances to the next round but only one will be crowned Fat Bear Week champion on Sept. 30.

In addition to voting and advocating for their favorite bear, enthusiasts can also watch livestreams from cameras of the bears bulking up from the abundant salmon supply along the Brooks River.

Once the contest ends, park officials typically post transformation photos of the contestants showing their visible bulking.

Katmai National Park is home to some of the largest brown bears in the world, officials said. Adult male bears can weigh more than 1,200 pounds by the end of the summer, while the females weigh around half that amount because they get more exercise chasing cubs around.

Brown bears are omnivores, but the plentiful sockeye salmon in the Brooks River are essential to their diet.

Bears need to consume enough calories before hibernation to avoid losing 15-30% of their body weight, according to the National Park Service.

The fat bear frenzy began as Fat Bear Tuesday in 2014, aimed at celebrating the Alaskan bears' winter weight gain and the thriving ecosystem supporting them. Now, thousands of people from around the globe flock to FatBearWeek.org and cast their votes for the chunkiest bear that has captured their hearts.

The contest draws over nearly one million votes each year, according to park officials. It has gotten so popular, officials added a Fat Bear Junior competition for the public to vote on their favorite cubs.